fill my eyes with the sky
by Bekahning
Summary: Robin tries to cheer Artemis up with a little late-night patrolling. It escalates from there. Series of interconnected one-shots from the time-skip, building to eventual Traught AU.
1. Perturbed

Title is from "Taste It" by Jake Bugg, which is an extremely appropriate song for Traught.

Anyway, this takes place during the five-year timeskip. It can stand on its own, but I plan on writing a few more chapters that build to a fully Traught AU instead of this pre-ship thing. So, uh, enjoy.

* * *

Sometimes Robin thinks he knows the rooftops of Gotham better than the streets. (He knows he spends more time on the rooftops.) Robin's been on top of Artemis's apartment building, he's pretty sure, and once he pulls her apartment number out of Gotham Academy's files, it's not too hard to find her window. Robin leaps from the adjacent roof to the roof of Artemis's building, then climbs down a story to perch on her windowsill.

The window is right above her bed, and he can see her still lying awake. Her eyes are focused on the ceiling. It's nearly midnight. She still hasn't noticed him yet. "Hey, Artemis," he hisses.

She sits up with a jerk and twists around, tangling herself in the sheets. Her long hair falls loose around her face. "_Robin_?"

Robin smirks and wiggles his fingers at her. Artemis leans over to undo the latch, then pushes her window open. "May I come in?" he asks courteously, in no hurry to move from the window ledge. To some people, his perch would look precarious. To Robin, it's easy as breathing.

"You show up at my house in the middle of the night and you want permission to come in? What are you, a vampire?" Artemis snaps, but he can see the grin starting to form on her face.

Robin snickers and climbs into her room, taking a seat on the bed. "Can't sleep?"

"No. Late-night missions are messing with my sleep schedule," Artemis grumbles. Robin nods. He knows the feeling. "Why are you _here, _Robin?"

Robin shrugs. "You know—couldn't sleep, thought I'd do a patrol. Figured I'd stop by and see if you wanted in," he says, smiling at her.

Artemis frowns. "I don't know…I have school in the morning."

"So do I. Come on, it'll be fun," Robin wheedles. He sees the gears turning, the moment where she gives in.

"Okay. Just—let me get dressed," she tells him, gesturing awkwardly to the hallway. Robin climbs back out of the window and then onto her roof.

"Ready when you are," he tells her. Five minutes later, she climbs up onto the roof with him. Her climb isn't as graceful as his, but then, she hasn't had quite his experience. Artemis moves like a criminal, not an acrobat.

"Okay," she says, one hand tight around her bow and the other resting on her cocked hip, "where to first?"

For an hour Robin takes her on a tour of Gotham. It's not a patrol, not really. Superhero-worthy crime has gone down recently, and though it makes Batman nervous, Robin is enjoying it while it lasts. They bust a petty thief in the first fifteen minutes. One of Artemis's arrows pin him to the wall, they give him a stern warning, and he walks away.

For the next forty-five minutes, Robin just shows her his favorite places: the enormous greenhouse, all lit up at night; Gotham viewed from the top of WayneTech's building; Gotham's public zoo with some of the animals much more active at night than they ever are during day visits. The security guards see him at the zoo and Robin just gives them a friendly wave; they let it go.

"What's next?" Artemis laughs as they leave the zoo. "Are we going to break into Wayne Manor or something?"

Robin grins. "Nah, I've tried. Wayne's got some top-notch security," he says, which is perfectly true. A year before, Robin tried breaking into Wayne Manor without using his clearance on the security protocols, and it ended with him nearly being killed. Bruce designed it like that in case one of them somehow came under mind control. "What do you say to a midnight snack?"

Artemis considers. "Yeah, I could use some food," she says. So Robin leads her to a twenty-four-hour pizza place that he found a few months ago, picks up several pieces, and takes her to the roof.

For a few minutes they eat in silence. Then Artemis tells him, "So, I don't know if you were telling the truth earlier or if you already know this, but I had a shitty day today. So thanks for all this."

Affecting as innocent of a look as he can manage, Robin says, "Artemis, I _always _tell the truth. But I'm glad you're having fun."

Robin had seen her at school that day—well, the day before, technically. He usually kept an eye on her, though Robin never tried to get close to her as Dick Grayson. Today, he'd seen her look…perturbed. He knew she hadn't done well on a math test, since that was the only class they had together, but it didn't account for how tired and upset she had seemed. "Do you want to talk about it?" he probes.

Artemis scowls at the rooftop. "Well. I slept in too late because of my weirdo sleep schedule, realized I'd forgotten my science homework, and failed a math test. And I'm covered in bruises from the last mission, and me and Kid Flash had a big fight about couple stuff that I'm not going to talk to you about because you'll just hear it from him. And just generally…stressed, I guess. You know?" She shrugs and glances up at him, looking almost embarrassed. Robin leans forward and nods at her to go on. "I just…I don't know. I feel like I'm juggling too much. I love being on the team, but I've got to do that, keep up my grades, take care of my mom, manage a relationship, and the whole time I've got to act like I'm normal."

"Sounds pretty overwhelming," Robin says neutrally. He can understand that. He's had days where he thought he could manage the whole double life thing, no big deal, and he's had days when he felt like everything was going to crash down on him like an avalanche. It's probably worse for Artemis; Robin's never had to work for his good grades, for one thing. They just sort of happen. Not that he's going to tell her that.

"You probably think I'm being dramatic, don't you?" Artemis asks, leaning back on her elbows and staring at the sky. He's noticed something about her. She absolutely refuses to make eye contact when she's talking about something that makes her feel vulnerable.

Robin glances up at her face, down to the curves of her mostly-bare torso, and back to her face. Shaking his head, Robin grins at her. "No. I know exactly what you mean, actually," he says. "And for the record, if you need to vent to someone about couple stuff, I'd be happy to be there. There's nothing you can say about KF that I haven't heard or thought already." Once upon a time he would have felt disloyal saying something like that, but now Artemis is as much of his friend as Wally. Maybe more so, now; Wally's started acting touchy and secretive around Robin lately, though Robin can't figure out why.

Artemis gives him a wry smile. "Thanks. Maybe some other time."

"Gotcha," Robin says. He pulls up the time on his wrist computer—about one-thirty. He shows her the time wordlessly.

"Oh, shit," Artemis says, frowning. "I should go back home."

"Gotcha," says Robin. He stands up and finishes off the last of his pizza slice. "Let's head out." She follows him back to her house, but when they get to the roof of the building nearest her window, Robin stops and gestures. "Ladies first."

Artemis rolls her eyes. But she does a last scan for observers (there are none, Robin already checked), fires an arrow with a cord attached that sticks just above her windowsill, and neatly swings in feet first. Robin takes the same route as he did arriving, but this time propelling himself through the window so he lands on her bed instead of the windowsill. Robin quickly gets to his feet, since he doesn't want it to look like he's planning on staying. "So, goodnight, then?"

Artemis is standing up, too, her bow already stored somewhere and her mask in her hand. "Thanks, Robin," Artemis tells him sincerely. "This was…I needed this."

"No problem," Robin says. He's not expecting her to hug him, but she does, wrapping her arms around his waist. After a second, Robin returns the gesture. It's…nice. Not something he's used to, especially since he and Zatanna broke it off. He lets go of her first. "And just so you know, if you're having homework trouble, I'd be happy to take some of the math stuff off your hands."

Artemis raises an eyebrow. "That would be _great,_ you nerd," she says with a grin. "And, yeah. Goodnight."

Robin salutes her and makes his exit.


	2. Dicked

So this is just a humorous little thing from a bit of headcanon I came up with some time ago. As for if the mentioned rumors are true...well, they _mostly _aren't, anyway.

* * *

Artemis is in a good mood.

Sure, she's tired, but she's hardly ever not tired lately. And today she had no school, just training at Mount Justice. Artemis is sweaty and in a bit of pain from her fight against Conner, but she actually _won _this one—and hardly anyone beats Conner one-on-one.

She's leaning against Wally, his arm slung casually around her shoulders while they watch Raquel and M'gann go at it. Raquel just _barely _wins that one, and as they walk off the mat to the wall, Robin catches Raquel's eye. "Nice moves over there. Think you can show me a few sometime?" he says casually, reclining against the stone wall of the cave with his arms crossed.

Raquel looks startled for a moment before agreeing and winking at him. Robin grins at her, and Artemis laughs.

Robin leans out to look at her past Wally, who is staring at his best friend with smug pride. "What's so funny?" Robin asks.

Artemis shakes her head. "You just—you remind me of this guy at my school."

"Oh, really? _Do _tell," Robin says, glancing back up at Wally.

How to describe Dick Grayson? "Well, he's a whore, basically," Artemis says. "His name is Dick Grayson and he's slept with a coupleof my school friends, plus like ten other people if the rumors are true. Plus all the people who say they've made out with him or whatever."

Wally loses it at that, laughing like his sides are going to split. "Dick Grayson? Are you _sure _it's him?"

Snickering, Artemis says, "Oh, yeah. There's even a name for hooking up with him—getting Dicked." She has to force the words out before she starts laughing herself. Robin is staring at the both of them, his mouth hanging open before a grin slowly starts to spread across his face. Finally Artemis manages to stop laughing long enough to wipe the tears out of her eyes. "Anyway. He just—you flirt the same way, is what I'm saying. He doesn't seem he should be that smooth, but he is."

Wally silently pats Robin on the head and bursts into giggles at random intervals for the rest of the day.


	3. Hurt

Hey, guys! Thank you so much for reviewing and following this story. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. This is one of those stories that I just write when I feel like it, and as I've just started college, I haven't had much time or energy to write. It's been so long since I updated that I switched from present to past tense without realizing. Oh well.

This chapter (and early bits of the fic in general) has Spitfire. Wally and Artemis were obviously very long-term, and I'm not going to have them break up two chapters in! That said, I promise not to drag you through twenty chapters of Spitfire for one chapter of Traught.

hr

One minute, Artemis was lying half-asleep in one of Mount Justice's infirmary beds. The next, her boyfriend was hovering over her.

"Hey, babe," Wally said, leaning down to kiss her forehead, so lightly she barely felt it. "How are you feeling?" He was still in full costume, the cowl pulled off to show the sweaty red hair pasted to his forehead, his freckles in stark relief against his pale skin under the fluorescent lights.

"Fine," Artemis whispered, sitting up and leaning against the headboard. "Apparently, I just need to keep weight off of it for a day or two. Not quite as bad off as Boy Wonder over there." Artemis had spun on her heel to aim an arrow at a bad guy, and it hadn't gone quite as planned. It was hardly the dumbest way she'd been injured, but it still rankled that she'd been that careless. Robin, on the other hand, was much worse off—the Boy Wonder had gone in close with a robot.

Wally glanced over at the bed next to hers were Robin was sleeping. A giant bruise was already visible on his arm, neck, and the side of his face from where he had been thrown into a wall. Wally made a face. "Poor guy. What's his deal?" he asked, matching his volume to hers.

"Broken ribs and a hell of a lot of bruises. On the bright side, no concussion," Artemis said.

Wally nodded. The three of them and Zatanna were the ones who got the most concussions, and head injuries were the worst. "Good," he said, and flopped down next to her on the bed. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him. "So how long until you're back in the field, then?"

"About a week, I think," Artemis said, shrugging as if the forced downtime didn't bother her. She'd rather be out catching bad guys with a bow in her hands, not holed up letting her friends take the risks. But there wasn't anything she could do about it, so.

Wally frowned. At first Artemis thought it was concern for her, or sympathy—but no. "Just a week?"

"Yes," Artemis said, scowling. "I guess it's not so bad. I've had worse." She knew what Wally was thinking, and decided to just get the topic out of the way. "You wish it was longer, don't you?" She straightened up so she was no longer leaning on him; Artemis couldn't snuggle when she felt an argument coming on.

Hunching his shoulders and looking down at the bedspread, Wally said, "Well, yeah. Maybe I do. Maybe I wish you were safe."

_Here we go again. _It had been nearly a year since Wally had brought the topic up for the first time—them leaving the team, going on to live normal lives. Nearly a year since he had almost died on a mission and decided that maybe being a superhero wasn't how he wanted to spend the rest of his life. "We're never going to be safe," Artemis snapped. "Even if I was out of the field, if we both were, there would still be supervillains running around trying to kill everyone or take over the world—and we'd be leaving our friends there by themselves." Having this argument was like running around in circles. Always the same debate, always the same responses.

"Well, it's their choice to stay in the field," Wally snapped back. Artemis could have almost mouthed the words along with him. "It doesn't mean it has to be ours."

"No. It doesn't. But right now, it's mine," Artemis said, crossing her arms.

On the bed next to her, Robin shifted and let out a small cry of pain in his sleep. Wally stopped whatever retort he was about to deliver (probably a guilt trip, she thought) to look at his sleeping best friend. His face softened slightly. "Maybe we should drop it," he whispered. "I don't want to wake him up."

Artemis nodded guiltily. Arguing with Wally had a way of making her yell without realizing it. "Like we aren't going to fight about this ten more times this week," she said drily, lowering her voice. "Plenty of time to hash it out later."

Wally gave her a wry grin. "Looking forward to it." He kissed her again, on the mouth this time, and Artemis let it go on for a few seconds before pulling back.

"Go shower and change back into civvies, babe. And eat something," she said firmly, then nudged him a bit so he moved closer to the edge of the bed. "I know you've gotta be starving after everything tonight, and I need to get my beauty sleep."

"I'm not—" Wally began, then broke off as his stomach gave a loud rumble. "Well, maybe I am," he admitted with a sheepish, charming grin. "Get your rest, then. I'll see you later." Unhooking his arm from around her, he lurched to his feet; she would never get used to how abrupt his movements were, Artemis decided.

"Mmhmm," Artemis said, leaning back into her pillows. It probably said something that the Mount Justice infirmary bed was more comfortable than her own at home. "Love you."

"Love you too," he said, grinning, and took off, shutting the door behind him.

Artemis relaxed, letting her eyes close and feeling her brain drift towards sleep. The throbbing in her ankle was distant, nothing compared to the injuries she'd had to deal with in the past. Then a voice interrupted her, dragging her back into alertness.

"So that's what you guys have been fighting about, huh?" Robin asked, his voice weak and his breath hitching every few words.

"Yeah," Artemis admitted softly. "For about a year now. He didn't want anyone to know he was bringing it up."

"I won't mention it to anyone," Robin said. He sighed, and Artemis could see the sadness and regret and exhaustion on his face. Sometimes it was hard to think of Robin as older than he thirteen-year-old he was when they met, and sometimes he looked so much older than his fifteen years. Now was one of the latter times. "I guess…I didn't expect it to come from Wally. He was the one who wanted it more than anyone. Why would he…"

"He's scared," Artemis said. "He doesn't want to die doing this, or see one of us die—he's tired of fighting all the time."

"Huh," Robin said. "Then why is he still on the team?" There wasn't any bitterness or accusation in his voice. When Artemis had asked Wally the same thing, she'd been hurt and angry; Robin's tone was sad, almost wistful.

"I don't think he's ready to give it up just yet," Artemis said. Trying to find the right words, she hesitated, and finally said, "He talks like he is after missions where someone gets hurt. But then we'll all go out as a team and kick ass and he changes his mind, starts talking like he never wants to leave." Her conscience pricked—she should let Wally speak for himself. "Maybe you should talk to him."

"Oh, I will." He chuckled humorlessly, then gasped as his ribs were jolted.

"We should stop talking," Artemis said, wincing guiltily. She knew how much it hurt just to breathe with broken ribs, and here she was making him talk.

"No, no," he said. "I wanna know this. He wants you to quit with him, right?"

Nodding, Artemis said, "Yeah. Get an apartment together, get a dog, go to college, the works." She scowled, thought about just leaving it there. But if Robin already knew about Wally, he should know about her, too. "I won't lie. I've thought about it. And some days, I wish I could. But this life…I grew up with this sort of thing. Wrong side of the tracks, maybe, but I'm used to it. So unless something big changes, I'm going to talk Wally into staying."

Robin nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Yeah." Artemis let the silence stretch past awkward and into, _If he doesn't say anything, I'm probably just gonna fall asleep. _There was a soft noise from the bed beside her, and Artemis looked over; Robin had beat her to the whole sleeping thing, apparently.

"Well, if that's how it's gonna be," she murmured, smiling fondly at the sleeping boy.

She should feel bad that now someone else knows, but it's like the whole thing with her family. If Artemis has learned anything from her time with the team, it's that secrets just weigh her down. And, just like with her family, Robin was the first to find out.

Maybe between the two of them, they could get Wally to drop this.

Artemis closed her eyes and let herself fall asleep.


End file.
